


Dancing in the Sky

by Faiktra



Category: Naruto
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Post-Fourth Shinobi War, They're both a mess but love each other so so so much, Trans Hatake Kakashi, im emo, not mentioned but u know ;)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 00:32:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15830088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiktra/pseuds/Faiktra
Summary: Gai wakes up after opening all the Gates and emotions are had by all





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [insert gif of elmo with his arms raised in front of a flaming background]

 

The first thing that he notices upon waking, and probably what kicked him into awareness in the first place, is the distinct sterile scent of the hospital. Citrus tinged cleanliness badgers his nose as he struggles to do a standard body assessment. Head, pounding like it always does after a fight, neck aching but no discernible abrasions, but his chest was where things started getting nerve wracking. The left side, just over his heart, _throbbed_ , every breath was agony, his lungs felt like they were full of ash—had something been burning? – shoulders burned where they brushed against the rough hospital bed spread. Shit. He tried to take in a calming breath like his father had taught him to, so many years ago now, but just ended up coughing which brought forth a whole new set of pains. One leg felt like he had snapped the bone in several places and the other…the other…

His eyes shot open and he started to struggle upwards because he couldn’t feel that leg _at all,_ shit what if they amputated it? What was he going to do? What had happened? Why couldn’t he remember anything? The monitor next to his bed began to wail as he fought against his body the best he could to lean up, where was his leg? In his determined panic he didn’t see the shape slumped in the chair across from him lurch forward.  

“Gai? Gai, shit what are you doing?” Kakashi swore again as he burst from the worn chair to place gentle hands firmly on Gai’s heaving, burnt, trembling shoulders. “Gai, Gai look at me you have to stop, you’ll hurt yourself.” Gai froze, shooting wide, frantic eyes over to look at his beloved rival.

“Can’t—” He cleared his creaking throat and tried again. “Can’t feel my leg, where’s my leg, ‘kashi?”

“It’s still there I promise, please lie down, I don’t want you to rip your stiches.” Kakashi nudged him back down, smoothing a hand over his sweating brow. “The healers have it numbed out right now, but it’s there.” Gai let himself sag against the pillows. He was tired…so tired. He tried to reach a hand up to grip Kakashi’s, which was shaking, why was his Hip rival shaking? But could only make it twitch weakly at his side.

“What…what happened?” Talking hurt. Everything hurt. Even Kakashi looked like he was in pain although Gai couldn’t spot any physical wounds. His rival looked away from him, jaw clenching underneath his mask.

“How much do you remember?”

“I…hm…not a lot?” Not a lot at all, which was almost more concerning than his apparently extensive injuries. “I remember Madara? And you were scared? And then mad? Not much after that.” Gai watched the muscle bunch in Kakashi’s cheek. Still a little mad then, behind the concern and relief.

“You opened the Gates.”

“Oh…?”

“ _All_ of the Gates, Gai.” Oh. Gai pried his eyes open again, not quite sure when they had slid closed. Kakashi’s own eyes were squeezed tightly shut and his grip on Gai’s shoulder clenched sporadically until Gai hissed in pain. Kakashi startled and jerked his hand away, looking horrified and pissed and agonizingly scared like he thought Gai was going to crumble into dust at any moment. A few tears slipped out and Gai pretended not to notice as his rival wiped them forcibly off his cheeks.

“How bad?” Kakashi shook his head, still refusing to meet Gai’s gaze. “How bad is it, Rival?” Scoffing, Kakashi dragged a hand through greasy hair – hasn’t showered, probably hasn’t been home since it happened, Gai thought absently—and paced around the small room.

“What do you want me to say, Gai?” His voice sounded rough, soft, exhausted. Gai frowned. This was so like his rival, to dance around the subject and usually Gai didn’t mind dancing with him, usually enjoyed leading his rival through the movements but right now he was _so tired_.

“I want you to tell me how bad it is, Kakashi. So, I can prepare for the worst.”

“The worst.” His rivals’ words sounded flat, emotionless, which was never a good sign with him, but Gai plowed on, ready to get answers and sink back into sleep.

“Yes, the worst. I do not understand why you are making this so difficult.”

“Because this—” Kakashi gestured at the hospital room “—will never be the ‘worst’ and therefore doesn’t matter.”

“Not being able to walk again matters, Kakashi, it actually matters a lot to me!”

“No.”

“No? How can you just say no?” His heartrate started ticking up again as he watched Kakashi continue to weave tight circles around the room and _continue_ to not look at him.

“I can say no because I thought you were dead! I had to tell your son that you had died and watch his face when he realized he lost both you and Ne—” Kakashi sucked in a shaking breath, wrapping his arms tightly around his chest and hunching in to make himself smaller. The anger in Gai snuffed out as his rival fought to speak around tears. “You promised me, Gai. That you would never open that last Gate…you promised me…you promised.”

Gai remembered making that promise, when they were teenagers, and Kakashi was in so much pain, breaking apart at the seams with just Gai left rushing to hold him together. To hold them both together and fit their broken pieces into one stable, functioning shinobi.

He also remembered, rather suddenly, why he had broken it.

Sighing, exhausted with how unfair their life was, Gai let his gaze drift up to the blinding white of the ceiling. This was an argument they were apparently going to have for the rest of their lives. “It is my choice to use the Gate, Rival. And it was my choice to give my life to protect the village and more importantly to protect you.”

Kakashi whirled to look at him, tears cascading down his face, furious and sad all at once, “You were supposed to choose to stay with me!”

Gai smiled, completely heartbroken and wishing he could reach his hand out to comfort his rival. “To be fair, I did think you would be joining me rather quickly.”

The tension sloughed off of Kakashi like heavy armour after a long mission as he blinked at Gai before snorting. “Staying with me when we’re both dead doesn’t really count…doofus.” Gai let his grin stretch even though it hurt as Kakashi returned to his chair beside the bed and flopped into it. His rival draped his hand over Gai’s bandaged one. Tears continued to leak from the corners of his eyes. “I’m really glad you’re alive, Gai.” Kakashi gently picked up his hand and pressed a kiss to his covered knuckles.

“I’m also glad to be alive…but I would actually like to know the extent of my injuries now.”

Rolling his eyes fondly, Kakashi placed another tender kiss to Gai’s knuckles before heaving himself upright. “I’ll go grab Tsunade-kun then, hmm?”

“Thank you, Rival.” Gai wasn’t sure he would still be awake but he appreciated it. He watched Kakashi sluggishly make his way to the door. “Kakashi?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

His Hip rival blew him a kiss and smiled at him from the safety of his mask. “I love you too, Gai.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

The next time he woke, it wasn’t because of the horrible hospital smell but because of quiet voices speaking outside his door. Well, as quiet as Hokage-sama could be. She was always quite brash and self-assured. Gai liked that about her. The other voice was so low it was almost out of his hearing range, but Gai would recognize the voice of his rival anywhere. They were talking about him and his condition, which he supposed, was to be expected. He tuned them out to allow some privacy.

Gai focused instead on taking stock of his injuries, rolling his neck, wiggling his fingers, testing the extent of his new, apparently chronic, pains. Not terrible, until he got to his leg. Gai frowned, struggling to hold back the grief he felt building at the lost mobility in his legs. There was no reason to be distraught, he reasoned, there was no certainty regarding his injuries yet. There was still a chance that he would make a full recovery! And…if not, well then, he would just have to adapt! He could walk on his hands everywhere. That would be a fun challenge. Or he could use a wheelchair, Gai thought Kakashi would probably like that. A mobile place to sit down and fall asleep on, yes, his lazy rival would love that.

Releasing a breath and tension, Gai worked steadily on the dexterity in his hands. Kakashi had been right earlier. His injuries, in the long run, didn’t really matter. Oh, he would have to adjust, but at least he was alive to do so, unlike Asuma and…and Nej—a choked off sob surprised him. He slapped a hand over his mouth, relishing the pain it brought, as he tried desperately to stifle the wail that careened out of his throat.

Neji.

He hadn’t been able to protect Neji, his shy troubled student, what kind of teacher was he? The ache in his chest threatened to explode as Gai struggled to hold on to the grief before it ripped free of him. He hadn’t felt anything liked _this_ since the death of his father. Except this might have actually been worse because Neji was supposed to be his to protect and he had failed. Failed horribly.

Fuck, how was he ever going to look at Lee and Tenten again, knowing that he hadn’t been strong enough to save their teammate. He pushed his hand harder against his mouth as guilt and grief warred within his already damaged body, silently, wildly hoping Kakashi and Tsunade couldn’t hear the cries wracking his frame. Gai didn’t think he could deal with their pity right now. He didn’t deserve it. How could Kakashi even bare to be around him when he was exactly the kind of shinobi that his rival despised? One who failed their teammates. He was garbage, worse than garbage, in his rival’s eyes now surely.

Gai wept, for once, as silently as he could, until he picked up the tail end of the conversation that had originally woken him up.

“…think it’s worth it? When you thought he was dead you were…broken. You were taken out far easier than I thought you would be.” Gai could just imagine his rival giving up like that. He would fight a good fight before being taken down, but not as hard as he usually would. His hand relaxed marginally on his cheeks.

“Gai will always be worth it. You were in love, I would expect you to know.”

Tsunade sighed. Gai thought she sounded tired. “Yes, I suppose I do. Although sometime I wonder if we both might have been better off if we hadn’t fallen in love.”

“I don’t know about him, but I know that Gai is the reason I didn’t…that I’m still around. I wouldn’t change a thing.” He was surprised by the conviction in Kakashi’s voice. Not that he didn’t know he was loved, but that Kakashi cared _that_ deeply for him? The tears gradually slowed and then dried on his face.

“Really? I have trouble believing that you’re satisfied with your lot in life.” He could almost hear the sound of Kakashi’s eyes rolling.

“There’s hundreds of millions of timelines and hundreds of millions of versions of my life. I can imagine times where Obito and Rin are still my teammates or where Minato got to be hokage for more than thirty seconds, shit I can even imagine timelines where shinobi don’t exist at all. What _I_ have trouble believing…what I can’t imagine even in my most melancholy daydreams is not being madly in love with Maito Gai.” Tsunade and Gai sat in shocked silence before Kakashi spoke again. “I may have a long list of things that I’m not satisfied with in life but that list will never include Gai.”

There was a brief moment of quiet before Tsunade whispered “You sap.” And Gai heard a hearty slap to what was presumably Kakashi’s shoulder. What sounded like a brief struggle ensued as Kakashi, Gai guessed, tried to escape a noogie. Gai’s mouth twitched upwards against his palm. If Kakashi could demonstrate his love in such a Youthful and Passionate display, then he had been forgiven for his failure. That gave him the strength to want to work towards earning Lee and Tenten’s forgiveness as well. And maybe even his own, eventually. His rival would clearly be willing to wait for him to figure it out.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Kakashi asked in a tone of voice that made it clear that he had not, in fact, escaped the noogie.

“What? And miss out on teasing you? Not really…seriously though…you wouldn’t change anything?”

“Well…” Gai went rigid, breath caught in his throat. “I would like to tell younger me to get over himself and tell Gai sooner…I wasted so much time.”

Tsunade cackled boisterously, “You sap!”  

**Author's Note:**

> Gai doesn't really need to earn Tenten and Lee's forgiveness (cause that shit wasn't his fault but grief kinda warps ya so hes just freaking out a little)
> 
> join me on the sinking ship that is tumblr @ashayam-faiktra


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